


i’ll hold in these hands all that remains

by distortionist



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, i can’t think of any tags for this, they’re bros and i love them!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29369721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distortionist/pseuds/distortionist
Summary: noctis’ entire life has suddenly been torn to shreds, and the burden is a lot to bear.good thing he’s got his family by his side.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13





	i’ll hold in these hands all that remains

**Author's Note:**

> HI i’m yet to completely finish ffxv but i love the main four very much..... found family is very important to me and they are the very definition of it!!!! 
> 
> noctis is very strong and capable and i love that for him but i also think he needs a hug sometimes. help this poor man

Noctis, despite his name, was not (and had never been) a particularly good sleeper. It took him hours to fall asleep at night, and when he did, he slept fitfully, tossing and turning into the early morning hours. 

He’d dealt with night terrors since he was a kid; Horrific visions plagued his sleep, causing him to wake up halfway through the night in a cold sweat with only a vague grip left on reality. 

As a teenager, Noctis had resorted to simply not sleeping at all. He’d stay up all night on his phone or handheld console, spend the entire school day only half awake, and repeat the process until his body gave up and he finally ended up falling asleep whether he wanted to or not. Energy drinks and coffee had been used in place of water or meals most days. 

That cycle had ended on a particularly bad week, when Noctis had ended up fainting at school from what Ignis had deemed overexertion and mild malnutrition. Noctis hadn’t really cared, but his father had cut off his energy drink privileges and began taking away his electronics at night; That had left him with no real choice other than to simply give in and deal with the regular nightmares, and eventually, his sleep schedule had become at least somewhat normal.

Despite all the time that had passed since then, things still hadn’t gotten much better. It still took hours of laying in the dark for Noctis to fall asleep, and when he did, he was still plagued with constant nightmares. 

For the most part, he was numb to it by now. He’d wake up in a cold sweat, let himself panic for a few minutes, and then force himself to get over it and spend another few hours trying to fall back asleep.

Things had changed once the road trip started, though. Now, he wasn’t sleeping alone in his own bedroom— He was sharing hotel rooms, campsites, and sometimes even the Regalia. 

Luckily, Prompto was a heavy sleeper, and Ignis (the lightest sleeper of the gang) usually slept with Gladiolus. Noctis had made it by several weeks with this safety, and things were going fine— That is, until they were incredibly low on gil and could only afford one hotel room instead of two. 

Noctis was not particularly ashamed of showing emotions or weakness. Kingly duties didn’t matter much to him yet, too busy with basic survival, and he trusted Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus more than just about anyone in the entire world. 

However, he wasn’t a fan of the idea of waking up the entire group with his constant kicking and yelling. Risking the entire group’s night of sleep and fighting daemons while exhausted was a considerably large safety hazard.

Noctis’ strategy was to simply follow in his teenage self’s footsteps and not fall asleep. He intentionally slept on the far side of the bed, beside Prompto, so he could spend his night on his phone and daydreaming without interrupting anyone’s sleep but his own. 

Somewhere along the line, though, the plan must have failed, because Noctis was suddenly being woken up by Gladiolus shaking his shoulder rather violently.

“Huh—“ 

“What the hell’s wrong with you, kid?” Gladiolus exclaimed, earning a punch to the shoulder from Ignis.

“Don’t yell at him, Gladio,” Ignis said, glaring at the other man. Gladiolus sighed.

“I didn’t mean it like that. He started kickin’ and screamin’ in his sleep— I was _worried._ ”

“Shit,” Noctis muttered. He sat up, sighing. He couldn’t remember the nightmare he’d been having, but the vague feeling of panic was still there in the back of his mind. “Sorry. I just— It happens. I tried not to fall asleep, since I didn’t wanna wake you guys up, but—“

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” Prompto interrupted, clamping his hand over Noctis’ mouth. “I’m pretty sure sleep is, like, the most basic human requirement. You could have just _told_ us instead of trying to stay awake all night.”

“Tell you what? That I get nightmares like some dumb fucking kid?” Noctis dragged his hand down his face, letting out a frustrated sigh. “It’s stupid. There wasn’t any point telling you, since it wasn’t even gonna matter if I had just stayed awa—“

“You’re a real dumbass, Noct,” Gladiolus said, cutting Noctis off. “If you’d _told_ us, we could’ve known _ahead of time_ how to handle this, and we wouldn’t be wasting sleep arguing about it. Pulling an all-nighter ain’t gonna solve anything.”

“Yeah, man,” Prompto agreed. He sat up behind Noctis, leaning forward to rest his chin on Noctis’ shoulder. “Sometimes you gotta take care of yourself, too— Not just us. It’s not you taking care of us or us taking care of you— It’s all of us taking care of each other, ‘kay?”

Noctis didn’t reply, too busy gritting his teeth to stop himself from crying. He didn’t mind crying, and he didn’t care about crying in front of his friends, but— Crying over something like _this_ felt like the dumbest thing in the world. Noctis was tired, and his friends were all staring at him like a concerned parent at a parent-teacher meeting, and he was so _sick_ of waking up every night from these godforsaken nightmares. 

“You’re allowed to be upset, Noct,”  
Ignis said, because of course he noticed, because he notices everything. As soon as the words reached his ears, Noctis was sobbing, rubbing frantically as his eyes to make the tears go away.

“Jeez, kid.” Gladiolus sighed, ruffling Noctis’ hair. “You’re gonna be okay.”

“God, I’m sorry—“ Noctis gave up on wiping away his tears. He sniffled, leaning into Prompto for any semblance of comfort he could possibly get. “I’m supposed to be a _king_ , I can’t just— I can’t just _break down_ like this.”

“Hey,” Prompto said, “I’m sure even kings get sad sometimes. You’re still, like, a normal human being. It happens. Your whole life just totally fell apart, it’s— It’s not like you’re just gonna be all happy-go-lucky after that. You’re basically still a kid, man.”

“I guess,” Noctis mumbled, sighing. The tears finally stopped as he fell into an unpleasant numbness, something in his chest tightening painfully. “This fucking sucks.”

“That’s... a bit of an understatement,” Ignis said, grimacing. “As much as I hate to leave you in this state, we have a full day on our hands tomorrow.”

“It’s fine.” Noctis shook his head. “I’ll be okay. I just— Yeah. I’ll be fine. Let’s go back to sleep.”

“‘Night, guys,” Gladiolus said, already crawling back into bed. Noctis followed suit, this time crawling into the middle between Gladiolus and Prompto. Ignis slept closest to the wall, giving Noctis a pat on the shoulder before he laid back down.

“D’you want a hug or somethin’, dude?” Prompto asked quietly, and Noctis simply nodded tiredly. Prompto grinned, reaching over and wrapping his arms around Noctis. “We got you, bro. It’s gonna be alright.”

“Yeah. Thanks,” Noctis mumbled, burying his face in Prompto’s chest. He felt someone reach over and ruffle his hair— Gladiolus, most likely. “G’night.” 

“‘Night, dude.”


End file.
